Stories of Self Defense

Harry Reid Calls on Senate to Pass Background Check Bill

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Earlier this week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid once again brought up the issue of gun control in the Senate.

Reid said that the “American people are depending” on the Senate to pass background checks to keep guns out of the hands of people like the Millers, his first unprompted mention of revisiting gun legislation in the Senate in months. In the wake of mass shootings, Reid is occasionally asked by reporters of the Senate’s appetite to tackle background checks after last year’s failed vote. Reid answers that the Senate will take up background checks when it has the votes to pass something.

“My deepest sympathies are with the families of those who died. We in Congress, we do need to put in place legislation that helps prevent these deranged, these weird, these evil people who carry out such savage acts of violence. Background checks so that people who are criminals, who are deranged can’t buy a gun,” Reid said. “The American people are depending on us to pass legislation to prevent gun violence and safeguard communities, schools and families.”

“We can’t take for granted here in the Senate the people looking after us. There are people out there who are so evil who try every day to do harm to not only [Sen. Patrick Leahy], not only me, but people who work in these buildings, the tourists that come to these buildings,” Reid said. “So if there’s any complaint about having too much security, come to me. I’ll try to explain to people why we need it.”

Reid made his statements following the death of two police officers in his home state of Nevada. The officers were ambushed and shot by a deranged couple.

The couple was then confronted by a concealed carrier, Joe Wilcox, who was killed during the altercation. Police went on to call Wilcox a hero and it’s likely that his brave actions saved lives.

The last gun legislation to be debated and voted on in the Senate was a failed background check bill in April of 2013. It is unlikely such a bill would pass the House of Representatives even if the Senate was to pass it.